Albury aiming high in water management

AlburyCity in on track to become a national leader in the management of its water.

Posted 15 April 2008

AlburyCity in on track to become a national leader in the management of its water. Council’s Services and Infrastructure Committee tonight received a plan for Albury’s water management which would lead to significant improvements in the health and wellbeing of the Murray River and ensure sustainable management of Albury’s water.

The Integrated Water Cycle Management Plan covers water supply, wastewater and storm water.

The plan will ensure that Albury complies with the NSW Department of Water and Energy’s six best practice criteria for local water authorities and is therefore eligible for Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Program funding, and to pay dividends to AlburyCity from the water supply and wastewater funds.

Group Leader for Water and Wastewater, Colin Johnson said that AlburyCity currently complies with five of the six best practice criteria. Mr Johnson said the implementation of the Integrated Water Cycle Management Plan would satisfy the sixth criteria.

The plan also identified a number of key issues within the present Albury water system, as well as ways to address them.

The issues include Albury’s high per capita residential consumption of water (the fifth highest in NSW), the reduction in water allocations from the Murray River, an aging sewer infrastructure, the inadequacy of the Hume Weir Village Supply and the need for water supply systems to be further developed for growth areas such as Table Top, Thurgoona, Ettamogah, and for industrial growth.

Mr Johnson said Council welcomed the detailed report which was commenced in 2005, and said many of these issues and recommendations are already underway or completed. He said work is progressing on the augmentation of the Table Top and Hume Weir Village water supply system and the Thurgoona and Drome Street sewerage systems. Best practice pricing is in place, a leak reduction program is nearly complete and BASIX requirements are being implemented.

The plan also recommends that a number of existing strategies be reviewed in light of the severe drought, maintenance programs be reviewed, and some new policies be developed. It also suggested that AlburyCity should investigate the possibility of providing reclaimed water to the Norske Skog paper mill.

The plan was approved by the committee and will now be presented to the full Council meeting at the end of April for approval prior to submission to the Department of Water and Energy for sign-off.